The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals

The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals on Saturday afternoon.  The game took place at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie, Florida and the final score was 8-6.  Sean Gilmartin started for the Mets and he pitched ok.  There was no Met that had more than a hit. 

Gilmartin pitched two innings giving up a hit and a run.  He struck out a batter and took the loss.  Logan Taylor pitched two innings giving up a hit and no runs with a strikeout, Jerry Blevins pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a couple of strikeouts and Kevin McGowan pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up four hits and four runs with a walk.  Adam Wilk pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and he had a strikeout, Josh Smoker pitched an inning giving up a walk and he had a strikeout and Kyle Regnault pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with two walks. 

T.J. Rivera had a hit, Matt Reynolds drew a walk and Yoenis Cespedes had a hit.  Gavin Cecchini had a hit and drew two walks, Michael Conforto had a hit and an RBI and Luis Guillorme drew a walk.  Brandon Nimmo had an RBI, Amed Rosario had a hit and an RBI and Wilmer Flores had a hit.  Dominic Smith had an RBI and drew two walks, Jay Bruce had a hit and Travis Taijeron had an RBI and drew a walk.  Ty Kelly had an RBI and drew two walks, Rene Rivera had a hit and Cespedes and Cecchini each hit a double.  The Mets were 2-12 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base.  Taijeron committed an error. 

In the second Bryce Harper hit a solo homerun to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.  In the fifth Neftali Soto hit a two-run homerun to increase the Nationals lead to 3-0.  In the sixth Brian Goodwin hit an RBI ground out and it became a 4-0 lead for the Nationals.  Andrew Stevenson hit a two-run homer to push the lead to 6-0.  The Nationals made it 7-0 on a Matt Skole solo homerun.  In the bottom of the sixth Conforto hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 7-1.  Smith had an RBI walk in the eighth to cut it to 7-2.  Taijeron had an RBI walk to make it a 7-3 game and Kelly had an RBI walk to cut it to 7-4 all in the eighth inning.  In the ninth Brandon Snyder hit an RBI double to give the Nationals an 8-4 lead.  Nimmo hit an RBI ground out and Rosario had an RBI single in the ninth to cut the lead to 8-6 but that would be the final score of the game. 

New York Mets defeat the Boston Red Sox

The New York Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox on Friday afternoon.  The game took place at Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers, Florida and the final score was 3-2.  Seth Lugo started for the Mets and pitched well.  Michael Conforto and Travis d’Arnaud each had two hits to lead the offense. 

Lugo pitched two innings giving up no hits or runs and he walked two with three strikeouts.  Lugo earned the win, Marcos Molina pitched two perfect innings, Rafael Montero pitched two innings giving up a walk and he struck out two and Josh Edgin pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs.  Corey Taylor pitched an inning striking out one.  Hansel Robles pitched an inning striking out one and he earned the save. 

Juan Lagares drew a walk, Conforto had two hits and an RBI and Wilmer Flores had an RBI.  d’Arnaud had two hits, Ty Kelly had a hit and Kevin Plawecki had a hit.  Gavin Cecchini had a hit and an RBI, Luis Guillorme had a hit and Cecchini and Conforto each hit a homerun.  The Mets were 0-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. 

In the first Flores hit an RBI groundout to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  Cecchini hit a solo homerun in the second to push the lead to 2-0.  Conforto hit a solo homerun in the third and the Mets lead was 3-0.  In the seventh Bogusevic hit a two run homerun to cut the lead to 3-2 and that would be the final score.   

The New York Yankees lose to the Philadelphia Phillies

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday afternoon.  The game took place at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Florida and the final score was 6-5.  Adam Warren started for the Yankees and he pitched well as did Ben Heller and Jonathan Holder in their spring debuts.  Gleyber Torres had a couple of doubles to lead the offense and Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier each had a hit. 

Warren pitched two perfect innings with a couple of strikeouts.  Dietrich Enns pitched two innings giving up two hits and two runs with only one being earned, Daniel Camarena pitched two innings giving up four hits and three runs and he had a strikeout and Heller pitched a perfect inning striking out the side.  Holder pitched a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts and Joe Mantiply lost the game pitching 1/3 of an inning and giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout. 

Kellin Deglan had a hit and an RBI, Chris Carter had a hit and Frazier had a hit.  Ji-Man Choi had a hit, Andujar had a hit and Donovan Solano had a hit and an RBI.  Torres had two hits, Pete Kozma had a hit and Tyler Wade drew a walk.  Torres hit two doubles and Choi hit a double.  The Yankees were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base.  Kozma was caught stealing and Andujar committed an error. 

In the third the Yankees took a 1-0 lead on a wild pitch.  In the bottom of the third the Phillies tied the game on an RBI ground out by Cesar Hernandez.  In the fourth Maikel Franco hit a solo homerun to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.  In the fifth the Yankees took a 3-2 lead on a wild pitch as two runs scored.  In the sixth Odubel Herrera grounded into a double play but a run scored to tie the game at three.  Franco hit an inside-the-park homerun and the Phillies had a 4-3 lead.  Rhys Hoskins hit a solo homerun and the Phillies lead was 5-3.  In the eighth Deglan hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4 and in the ninth Solano hit an RBI single to tie the game at five.  In the bottom of the ninth Stassi hit a walk-off RBI single to give the Phillies the 6-5 victory. 

The Yankees will host the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.  Luis Severino will make his first start of the spring. 

Yankees gearing up for first exhibition on Friday

The New York Yankees were going about their business without much distraction.  Then Saturday

came with full squads reporting but it was all about Dellin Betances.  What happened you might ask,

well the Yankees and Betances had an arbitration hearing on Friday and the Yankees won.  There

were some hard feelings from that as would be expected because it is an unpleasant situation. 

Betances was willing to move on though and forget about but then Randy Levine the Yankees

president opened his mouth on Saturday and a storm ensued.  Betances spoke out about it and

wasn’t very happy.  I thought he handled it well but you could tell he was hurt and this may hurt the

Yankees going forward.  Right now I think it isn’t a big deal but when Betances becomes a free agent

it could become one. 


Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez are with the Yankees as guest instructors.  Arod is still being paid 21 million

this year by the Yankees and has a larger role with the organization with Hal Steinbrenner willing to expand it

even more.  Swisher got there over the weekend and Rodriguez this morning.  Arod will be there this week

and then back again in a couple of weeks for a second tour of duty.  During the year the role is still yet to be

determined but I am sure we will be hearing more about it as we go along in spring training. 

So far everything is going pretty smooth down in Tampa.  Greg Bird has been looking good as he looks to knock off the rust and prove that he can play every day.  Aaron Judge is a work in progress but the Yankees still have high hopes for him.  Gary Sanchez continues to look like he did last year in the majors.  The shortstop talent is overwhelming with Didi the current SS, Gleybor Torres the new stud prospect and Jorge Mateo still a top prospect right now.  It looks like the Yankees are going to try and turn Mateo into a CF, Torres probably second or maybe third and keep Didi where he is.  Can you imagine next ear or the year after.  The Yankees could have Sanchez behind the plate, Bird at first, Torres at second, Didi at short, Castro at third.  Frazier, Mateo and Judge in the OF.  They will be a really good young team with a lot of pitching coming as well. 

It will be interesting this spring to see how the competition for the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation play out.  The Yankees did sign lefty veteran Jon Niese to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.  They are saying he is competing for a bullpen spot.  The interesting thing is the two or three guys who don’t get into the rotation could be in the bullpen and could be used as longer inning reliever out of the pen.  It will be fascinating to see that unfold. 

The first base competition was going to be interesting but it should be Bird seeing the majority of the time and Chris Carter starting against lefties.  Judge appears to be the favorite in right field but Aaron Hicks is still there as well competing.  Another story line to watch is will the Yankees break up Gardner and Ellsbury in the lineup.  It sounds like they will as the Yankees keep talking about it but when the games start on Friday let’s see what he does with the lineups.  In the beginning it will be harder to tell as not all the starters will be playing but usually in the home games most of them will at least start.  Also Ellsbury is the only player not to report as his wife is due to have a baby any day and maybe even any minute now.  He may be delayed at least at the start of exhibition games but he should be ready for the start of the season. 

Happy Pitchers and Catchers

The New York Yankees pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday February 14^th.  The first official workout was today and the position players will be reporting in five days with the first full squad workout in six days.  There really isn’t much news to report on the first couple of days but I will write some stuff and then as we move along to the first spring game which will be on February 24^th we will have more. 

Masahiro Tanaka was named the Opening day starter already which isn’t a surprise it is just surprising how

early the manager Joe Girardi named it.  Last year he did the same thing but didn’t announce it until March

31^st.  There will be the World Baseball Classic this spring which will bring more opportunity to see the young

guys which a lot of them will already be in camp but they will get to play more with some of the veteran guys

leaving for the WBC.  Dellin Betances didn’t report as he has an arbitration hearing on Friday and the Yankees

approved of it.  He is working out alone in Tampa and then will report after the hearing is over.  The Yankees submitted a number of 3 million and he is seeking 5 million. 

The Yankees will have both Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher in camp as instructors to go along with Goose Gossage, Willie Randolph, Hideki Matsui, Ron Guidry etc.  Arod will still be receiving 21 million from the Yankees this year and has a job as a consultant with the team especially working with the minor leaguers.

The Yankees will have an interesting camp as so many young guys are around.  There are some position

battles like first base between Greg Bird, Tyler Austin and Chris Carter.  Right field between Aaron Judge and

Aaron Hicks.  Gary Sanchez has already earned being the starting catcher, they trust him so much they traded

away Brian McCann and have Austin Romine as the backup.  There are of course rotation battles for the last

two spots.  It would appear that Chad Green, Luis Cessa, Luis Severino, Adam Warren

are all battling for those last two spots but are their others.  Could Chance Adams be a factor, how about other guys in the organization.  If not at first what about at some point this season. 

On the first day of official workouts which was today we heard from owner Hal Steinbrenner who is pretty confident in his team and says the expectations are the same.  He says the kids have a good chance and now need to prove that they are good and ready for the opportunity. 

CC Sabathia threw today and so did Aroldis Chapman, nothing exciting just getting early work in.  Steinbrenner talked about Arod possibly having an expanded role with the organization.  It sounds like they are very happy with his work with the younger players and want him to stick around with the organization.  That was an interesting development, he also said he loves Joe Girardi and the job he has done but won’t talk extension until the end of the season.